Globalization, economic growth, and spillovers: A spatial analysis

This paper seeks to deepen our understanding of the globalization-growth nexus as it extends the investigation to using a spatial econometric approach, hitherto has been rarely used in the globalization literature. The objective of the paper is to uncover not only the significant growth-effects of globalization, but also the possible spillover effects of globalization onto neighbouring countries. Using a panel dataset of 83 countries and 30-year period and via a spatial autoregressive panel data method, this paper estimates a standard growth model augmented with a parameter to capture the countries’ spatial dependence, whilst controlling for globalization indices. The findings indicate a positive effect of economic globalization and the effect is dependent upon the political settings in the countries under study. The spillover effects of globalization across neighbouring countries are shown, both in geographical and institutional spheres. The paper concludes with some policy recommendations.